On March 22, the News/Media Alliance Hachette’s Hachette Book Group, Inc. v. Internet Archive; About the Internet Archive’s digitization of copyrighted books and the publication of those books for free without permission. The district court ruled in favor of the book publisher, and the case is currently on appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The court brief emphasizes the purpose of copyright as an incentive to creative endeavor, stating that “Owning one copy of a copyrighted work entitles the owner of that copy to obtain additional copies.” It does not grant any rights to create or distribute it.” The Internet Archive claims that its digitization project makes it easier for libraries to lend books to patrons, but book publishers already license their works to libraries. The brief further states that digitizing physical media and renting it online is not a fair use, that the Internet Archive’s use is not “transformative,” that such use would adversely impact existing licensing markets, and that the Internet They argue that adopting the fair use theory of archives would have disastrous consequences. For the music, film and publishing industry. Other organizations included in the brief were the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA), and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPA). Read the full summary here.
A member of the News/Media Alliance staff contributed to this post.
